


a flower in a dark room

by Titty_Now_Titty_Later (orphan_account)



Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: 707 Route Spoilers, Angst, Canon Compliant, F/M, Jaehee Route Spoilers, Jumin Route Spoilers, Mutual Pining, Pining, Slow Burn, reset theory, seven pov
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-23
Updated: 2016-10-23
Packaged: 2018-08-24 04:09:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8356597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Titty_Now_Titty_Later
Summary: Whatever sense of familiarity Luciel thinks he feels when he sees her in his chatroom (his chatroom! His! How did she even get in there?), he forces it away. It isn't real, just a feeling. He's never seen her before in his life. It's just a weird sense of déjà vu.





	

**Author's Note:**

> if u didnt think i was gonna impulsively start a reset theory fic then u dont know me
> 
> Edit: I rushed to post this at first, but I've gone back and pretty much doubled the length of this first chapter lol. Also added more tags bc I actually figured out wtf im doing with this fic lolol
> 
> Edit 2: I added another 2.5k words of intro because i could NOT deal with not writing out every detail so i went back and played the prologue and day 1 like 5 times to make sure i had it right;;;

 

**_Hello..._ **

 

Luciel stared at the phone in his hand, mind blank for the longest moment. There was someone in the chatroom. _There was someone in his chatroom._ The question bouncing around the empty space of his mind right then was _how?_ He knew how good he was - he knew his algorithms were strong enough to turn away almost anyone. The first emotion he identified from the unvoiced swirl in his chest wasn't fear, or even anger. His first thought wasn't to be concerned for the encrypted classifieds the hacker was probably after. He was surprised. Shocked. And… interested. Who were they?  
  
He blinked out of his stare and focused on what was actually happening on the dimming screen of his phone. He tapped the display, making it light up again while the conversation scrolled past his eyes. MC. What was that? What did that mean? MC? A username. Could be nothing, could be a signature.  
  
Luciel dropped his phone on the desk and ran through the hackers he knew of who'd caused him trouble before, taking the way the user was typing and trying to put it with a name, any name he could think of while he frantically kicked up some programs on his computer, tracking the IP of the user. It took maybe a minute and his other programs were still running, searching, but he had her address from the IP. The bottom of his stomach dropped out when he read it. Rika's apartment. Whoever they were, they were in Rika's apartment.  
  
Drumming his fingers against the surface of his desk, Luciel forced himself to take in the information and remain calm, putting a tight cap on whatever emotional reaction he might have had. Okay. Okay, what first? What next? Classified... was this classified? Of course it wasn't, there was someone in Rika's apartment! He'd tried calling V already, no dice. He tried again, knowing  what the result would be, and sent him a text when he was referred to a voicemail for the third time. Well, that answered the 'classified' question. The other members deserved to know what the fuck was going on, and it wasn't like he was disclosing the address or anything.

**I tracked the IP and…**

**it’s in Rika’s apartment.**

**Someone must have broken in?**

He scrolled back through the chat, reading up. They’d only said one thing… ‘Hello’. Sounds fake. Was it fake? Luciel snorted. Fucking bots. Who could have found Rika’s apartment, broken in and then planted a bot in his app? Who _would_ have? Well, he knew there were probably a few people who would. People who _did,_ however, were much harder to come by. But hey, one had just dropped in like it was nothing so maybe it was more common than he’d originally believed. And Jumin was being a dick and Zen was already turning up the charm - god, the RFA really were more ragtag than their image depicted, weren’t they? The user they were freaking out over probably wasn’t even a real-

**_I’m MC. Who are you all and what is this place?_ **

Luciel’s eyebrows rose. Okay, not a bot then.

**Lol awkward**

**I didnt think it was a person.**

And… what, they’d just downloaded his app in the store? What the _fuck,_ actually? And… thank God for Jaehee, asking the real questions because yes, apparently they _had_ just downloaded it in the app store which. Um. Someone had somehow managed to get a hold of Luciel’s messenger and distribute it? First of all, he’d put a _lot_ of time and effort into the features of the messenger and if _anyone_ was going to get a paid for making it famous it would be _him._ Second, that should never happen anyway because as much as Luciel might have liked to be able to share his incredible code engineering with the world the RFA Messenger had been designed solely for the RFA, with incredibly tight security measures around it preventing anyone from the outside getting in. And third of all, pertaining to those security measures, how the _fuck_ had someone managed to get in?

Well. A mess was a mess until it was cleaned. His programs were still running, working on getting into the user’s phone, and Luciel lined up another process to track the origins of MC’s RFA Messenger download once he’d gotten in. Hopefully it would come up with results regarding who’d been distributing, but so far MC was the only person who’d gotten in so if she was telling the truth about simply downloading it from the app store it must have been only made available to her. And why the fuck wasn’t V answering his phone? Yes, Jumin, calling him would be a _great_ idea if it weren’t for the fact that V was actively ignoring them all. Or Luciel, at least.

With one hand he redialled, determined to try one last time before giving up on it and letting V get back to him when he could. While the call connected the program running on MC’s phone dinged to alert him that it had completed the process. With one hand on the mouse and the other holding his phone to his ear, Luciel quickly sifted through everything he’d gathered, the secondary process kicking in to track her download history. Her phone wasn't anything near what Luciel would call secure - the automated programs he'd written had taken care of it quickly enough. He flicked through some chat logs and apps. It could have been stolen. From what he was seeing, the user was a girl who spent a fair amount of time in messenger apps. Kakao, Line, fb messenger... She was sociable. The photos saved in her cloud storage were cute, fun, some pretty selfies, some… other selfies. Luciel closed her cloud quickly.

He opened the desktop messenger and typed as quickly as he could with one hand, foregoing spacing. They’d figure it out.

**Sorry callingvandtypingwithonehand**

**Lookedintoownerofdevice**

**she’scutelol**

Her response wasn’t defensive or outraged so much as surprised. Zen, ever the gracious gentleman, took it upon himself to tell her - _again -_ that Luciel was a hacker. Like she hadn’t picked up on that already. There was a click in his ear from the phone he’d almost forgotten he was holding.

“Luciel?”

“Oh my god you actually picked up,” he remarked, genuinely surprised. He’d been prepared to drop it and deal with the breach himself, but the RFA did need V for this one.

“I had company; I couldn’t leave or answer your call. But I managed to step out. What’s the problem.”

“Um, the problem?” Luciel asked, eyebrows arching innocently. “What problem? There has to be a problem for me to call you now?”

“Luciel,” V rebuked, voice firm.

“There’s someone in the chatroom,” he answered. “I’m looking into it, the others are keeping her talking but I think you should log in for a moment.”

“Can you handle this?” V asked, regretful. “This meeting is… quite important.”

“She’s in Rika’s apartment,” Luciel informed, voice dropping into seriousness.

There was silence on the other end of the line for a long second. “I’ll be right there,” V asserted and hung up.

Luciel dropped his phone and drew his attention back to the monitors. One was showing the programs he still had running, another had the desktop messenger open with a few pages he’d pulled up on MC in the back. As he watched, V arrived in the chat. Luciel sent a picture of Jaehee while he waited for V to read up and get a bearing. He couldn’t actually believe that Yoosung and Zen really did think it was MC for a moment before Jaehee called them out, exasperated and overtired. Poor Jaehee. Not even Jumin had realised it was her. Luciel laughed for a moment, kicking back until V messaged.

And then there was Yoosung, asking for the address under the pretense of ‘I'm family so I should know’. Oh, boy. Hah. Thought he could get classified information out of Luciel at a moment of weakness? Cute. Then V was actually reminding them all _why._ Classified information, valuable documents, sensitive materials and all that. But none of that explained how anyone bar Luciel and V even knew where the apartment _was,_ let alone the password to get in. Hell, even V didn’t have that code! Which meant the person who’d led MC there was either somehow connected with Rika or just that dangerous.

Everyone immediately refuted the idea that Rika could have trusted anyone more than her own organisation, and her own fiance. But there was V, telling them that she had secrets not even he knew about and suddenly things were a bit more complicated in Luciel’s head. And then… implying that it was something Rika had _arranged_ to happen? It… wasn’t _im_ possible. But still, Luciel had a hard time believing that was really it. How could she have arranged that? Why would she have done it, and why now? So much time had passed since the RFA’s last party, it was pretty implausible. But… V _knew_ Rika. And Luciel trusted V. Even at a time like this, Luciel weighed V’s words more heavily than he might have if they’d come from anyone else. He didn't have much time, but before he left he made the suggestion that they follow Rika’s wishes and host another party and… he was right that MC didn’t seem dangerous, but still… That was a _lot._

And then… She was part of the RFA. Just like that. It happened quite quickly and Luciel wasn’t sure if _any_ of them knew what they were getting into, MC least of all. But she made a verbal contract and Luciel finished registering her within a few minutes, legally binding her to the Association and their confidentiality. Then his phone was ringing with his boss’s tone and he knew if he ignored it again he’d be in more shit than he already was with the agency. With a quick excuse he closed the window and answered the call.

Too distracted to play around with the guy who holds his paycheck but still too focused on everything that had happened, he couldn't bring himself to pay attention to whatever changes the boss wanted to make to his assignment. Luciel didn't particularly enjoy hearing his voice even at the best of times so he demanded, “Just send me the amended dossier,” with an exasperated roll of his eyes. “I'll do whatever, just email it through.”

“Zero Seven I think you underestimate the-”

“Time sensitive, hard work, virus uploads, hours of thankless work, _I got it,”_ he reiterated impatiently. “In case your records are compromised or you just forgot, you've had me do this exact mission for different agencies half a dozen times before. You guys _really_ need to give me something out of the ordinary to work with. I get you, I get this, I'm all over it like a rash. Speaking of, how's that new ointment working?”

“Ten days,” he informed firmly, ignoring Luciel's baiting. “If you haven't cleared their servers of information pertaining to our agency and emptied their accounts-”

“Then by sundown; off with my head. _I get it._ Now, dearest, do you want to keep talking my ear off or will _you_ hang up first?” he taunted, sugary sweet.

“You _don't_ get it,” he warned. “If the agency goes down, you're the only one who goes down with it. Everyone else even remotely involved will be implemented into a plan B. I won't put the bullet in your head myself, but I know a few people who'd jump at the opportunity.”

“I think you overestimate my will to live,” Luciel commented mildly. “I only react to positive reinforcement.”

“Get it done, Seven,” he gritted out before there was only a dial tone ringing in Luciel's ear.

“‘Get it done, Seven’,” he repeated mockingly in a child's voice. “Like I _wouldn't._ Like I've _ever_ missed a _single_ deadline,” he scoffed before rubbing his eyes. He shot a sour look at his phone and grumbled, “Ten days is a fucking lifetime, have a bit of trust.” His computer sent up an alert and Luciel maximized it on the third monitor, bringing up the amended dossier. He cast a quick glance to the left screen to check the progress of the programs searching for any trace of the hacker, ensuring they were all still running correctly, before leaning back and scrolling lazily through the briefing.

Not much had changed but the due date and the extended list of information he'd have to wipe from their servers. It was boring, dirty work which would take a probably few sleepless nights of grinding through line after line of code, searching for a way to get into their system and plant a virus, actually _making_ a virus - and one with an algorithm capable of searching out and removing all and only the specific information listed in the dossier. Then draining their accounts, making it look like they went bankrupt and selling the rest of their classifieds to the media. The competitor company would take the fall and not a byte would be found regarding the people who'd done it.

Luciel could think of a million better things to do with his time, honestly. Probably two million, if he had a birth certificate and passport. Actually no, if he had those he could probably call it Hitler and make a round four hundred million. Luciel twisted his lips, mentally revoking that last one. Tasteless. But whatever. He had to do it regardless so he might as well resign himself and get it done.

So he dedicated a couple of hours to the gritty work until the programs running on the messenger were finishing their processes. And… nothing. Unknown’s chat logs were deleted, his tracks were _gone_ and Luciel was ready to call it a night for a whole month because he could already tell what he was going to get for all the allnighters he saw in his immediate future; a whole lot of nothing. He let his head fall back for a moment, rubbing his neck tiredly.

And really… from there it was just going to be _work,_ because if the automated programs hadn’t picked anything up then that meant Luciel would have to go through and look for traces himself. It was still midmorning and - he quickly estimated - it would probably take him into the early hours of tomorrow to get through everything, taking into account breaks and maybe a couple of rage quits. He eyed his phone, sitting innocently on the desk, with pursed lips. He… couldn't deny he was curious. He pulled it towards him, unlocking the screen. Just a few minutes.

In the chatroom, it didn't take long for MC to catch on that he'd looked into her - after he told her. Had she been the hacker, she'd have assumed that would be his first action. Had she been the hacker she definitely would have had better security. And yet… She wasn't mad. Or surprised. Or even defensive, really, Luciel realized while he stared at her response with narrowed eyes.

**_Did you find anything?_ **

It was… playful? Was he reading that correctly? The corner of Luciel's mouth twitched. Was she playing with him?

**Just the cup size and number of pantyhose in the draw?**

He paused. Why did he send that? He remembered the cloud pictures and shook his head determinedly to forget the images. Hah. Flirting with a hacker. What was he doing? Luciel huffed half a laugh and leaned forward, watching his programs run. The logs could be faked, the pictures could be stolen. If the hacker could get into his messenger they could get into a regular girl's phone and borrow her identity. Chances were he was being catfished. What kind of person hacked a messenger to catfish? Luciel snorted a laugh and clicked over to another screen, checking the encryption codes on the RFA’s classified folders. Untouched. God, how ridiculous. He might even be convinced it was a bot or a bug someone had planted, if it weren't for the fact he could actually see there was a real live person behind the username. MC. He couldn't think of a single person he'd offended who would use a name like that, but… He couldn't shake that it was familiar, somehow. A niggling reminder in the back of his mind, like an itch he couldn't reach. He couldn't remember. It was probably important, but trying to grasp the odd feeling felt something like the time Zen had bet him he couldn't catch a fish in his hands. He'd tried, of course. Mostly for the fact he _knew_ he couldn't do it and it was fun to make a fool of himself. But even when his fingers brushed against the smooth scales, their lithe bodies twisted out of reach as quick as if they'd been burned.

He sighed at Yoosung, getting wound up and huffy. Maybe that pantyhose comment had been for the college student and not whoever was behind the name MC. Luciel didn't know. He couldn't tell. He hadn't been thinking when he sent that, the response had been thoughtless. But he liked teasing Yoosung and he preferred to believe _that_ had been his intention, because it made things less confusing. Poor Yoosung. He decided to cut him some slack.

**I wasn't looking into MC’s personal life. I'm looking for the person who sent MC to Rika’s apartment.**

He leaned back in his chair while he waited for the response, cracking open a half-cool can of Doctor Pepper.

**_Can't you just tell me?_ **

It was just text on a screen. Luciel frowned at it like it was a code he couldn't decipher. It… _could_ sound defensive, he guessed. He didn't get that feeling. _Why would you need to hide it from me,_ it sounded like. _Don’t you trust me,_ it sounded like. But why should he? Why on earth _would_ he? She had been hacked into his chatroom! And even if Luciel had enemies and coworkers and whatever else, there were maybe six people he would say he trusted even loosely and five of them were all already in the messenger - and the other was dead. Luciel shoved the thought away, along with the strange feeling. He was reading too far into it. It was just words.

He left her with a ‘maybe’ but Yoosung quickly debunked any hopes that he actually would tell her anything, and Luciel was the slightest bit grateful. He pushed back from his desk as though a couple of meters of physical distance would help him clear his head. Someone had hacked into his messenger to drop a random person there and lead her to Rika’s apartment. And Luciel was just… _going_ with it?

He scrubbed his hands through his hair and groaned, acknowledging the pile of work he’d have to do in the next twenty-four-ish hours. Even if he threw everything the agency was whipping him to do onto the backburner he didn’t even know if he could recover the integrity of the messenger’s algorithms, let alone _find_ who’d broken in so silently. Luciel had alerts for this shit, he was _on it,_ he wasn’t _negligent,_ the messenger was his _child!_ He created it and gave it life and firewalls and a bunch of other unnecessary shit just for fun and he felt like a parent who’d just found out someone had been bullying his kid at school where he couldn’t see.

He awkwardly scooted his chair back to the desk without standing up, resigning himself to actually doing the work rather than complaining about it internally. Hah. He didn’t even have anyone to complain about it to. What a thought. He couldn’t bitch and moan to the RFA about it because they’d probably just throw themselves into a panicked frenzy, which would _not_ help. It would be funny, yeah. But it wouldn’t help. Not to mention the messenger was compromised anyway so he probably should say as little as possible until he was certain he’d patched it. Also MC was there and. He told himself he shouldn’t trust her. He told himself to be wary. Precautions went without saying, but they even went without saying for _Yoosung_ so it would probably take an aneurysm for him to start talking _his_ kind of business in a _compromised chatroom with a stranger who had been planted into that very chatroom._

And he couldn’t tell Vanderwood or she’d… probably taze him. For a few reasons that he could think of. Not doing his work, officially. Annoying her, unofficially. Also just for fun, probably. Luciel sighed. He tried to be glad she even had a sense of humor, even if it did amount to threatening him with electrical shocks when he got too insufferable.

And… he didn’t have anyone else. Luciel dropped his head back with an exasperated groan. “Not this shit again,” he muttered, disgusted. Of _course_ he didn’t have anyone else. Fuck, it wasn’t like he was a secret agent who’d willingly and intentionally given up those connections or anything. God, he was pathetic. “Just do the work,” he commanded himself half-heartedly, opening his eyes to glare at the ceiling. “Do this breakdown shit when you have time for it.” He didn’t think it would work for a moment, but then he forced himself to raise his head with a tired groan. Like finishing the first line of code, he had no reason to stop when he completed the movement so he rolled his neck, shook out his hands and rubbed them together. He was ready. No, wait. He pulled the can of half-warm soda towards him and threw the whole thing back. Okay, he was ready. Fuck sleep, he didn’t need sleep. He’d sleep when he was dead. Work hard, die young, bad girls do it well. Or something.

Luciel focused on the screen in front of him, the display showing the desktop version he’d made of the app. The _only_ one, because it also had a bunch of other features which allowed him to keep track of everything that happened; all the messages and texts and emails and calls that were sent and received through his interface all filtered into his moderator fingers. Most of the time he had the window closed. He didn’t particularly _want_ to peek in on his friends and even if he did he’d barely have time. But he couldn’t deny that it was far simpler to just have the information in front of him rather than having to hunt for it when he needed it.

Layered behind the messenger were a few windows with information pertaining to MC. He had her name now, but it wasn’t that important. _She_ wasn’t that important, he consciously corrected. The correction sat heavy and uncomfortable in his stomach and he determinedly ignored it. He’d already gotten everything he needed from her. What _was_ important was the hacker. And still had it not been for the log that Luciel could see with his own damn eyes there would have seemed to be no trace whatsoever of an interference. That, and the random person they’d dropped in.

He could verify, straight up, that MC wasn’t a threat. That she was in Rika’s apartment… Suspicious, but there was nothing to indicate she was lying when she said Unknown had led her there with the intention of delivering a phone to its rightful owner. He could see the logs in his messenger. It… checked out. And she’d been suspicious of Unknown, but not suspiciously so. He’d sent a picture.

Luciel ran it through a filter and got fifty results. Catfish. Of course. Worth checking, regardless. He sighed. It wouldn’t be that easy. Of _course_ it wouldn’t be that easy. He’d known that the moment MC had joined the chatroom. Well, Luciel would just have to do what he did best; work until there was no more work to do. He brought up the messenger’s system code and began reading through it, line by line, looking for holes a skilled hacker might have written into it had they gotten around his security. For something as familiar as his own face, Luciel enjoyed looking at this a lot less. But work was work and when it had to be done he did it.

 

About halfway into the afternoon, Luciel found himself with nothing to do. Which might be a slight exaggeration, considering he should probably go out and find some real food while he waited for some programs to run - which would take a few hours, at the most. Actually, it was a complete exaggeration considering he hadn’t even _touched_ the work the agency had assigned him. They might send Vanderwood to keep an eye on him again.

Luciel grimaced at the thought but tore open a new packet of chips and unlocked his phone, determined to put it off for at least a few more minutes. He tried to browse Reddit and considered wasting a few hours nurturing one of his iconic wholesome 4chan cat picture threads into existence, but he knew when he was beaten. Despite his attempts to ignore the nagging distraction in his head it took only a half hour before he was slumped back in his chair, chewing the inside of his cheek. It wasn’t… He sighed and wished it weren’t impossible to actively avoid thinking certain thoughts. But… With MC appearing and this Unknown person slipping into his system undetected and disappearing just as easily...

His phone vibrated in his hand, shattering his concentration. He stared at the display with raised eyebrows for a second before answering.

“V?” he asked.

“Luciel,” was all V said in greeting, his voice as calm as ever.

“Thought you were too busy to call,” Luciel stated with a frown, but didn't ask. V would elaborate if he chose to. “Did you get a chance to think everything over?”

“I did,” V confirmed, “that’s why I called.”

“Not for a friendly chat? To catch up? Hello Jihyun it’s been so long since we last spoke, how have you been?”

V ignored him. “This person… MC. I think we should keep her.”

Luciel let the silence drag out for as long as he could bear. “Keep her?” he repeated, thoroughly confused.

“Yes. You haven’t blocked her from the messenger, have you?”

His frown deepened and his head tilted with his confusion. “No, I haven’t,” he answered. "Of course not. You said to wait."

“Good,” V continued. “Don’t. I think…” His voice trailed off for a moment, the only clue Luciel had into how scattered his thoughts were. Despite that, his voice was resolute when he spoke again. “I want to host another party,” he said firmly. This time, Luciel let his silence speak for him. He heard V’s quiet sigh through the receiver. “Luciel,” he entreated gently.

“Why?” was all he asked.

“We didn’t have anyone who could do Rika’s job,” he said, voice quiet.

“And now we do?” A complex jumble of emotion was surfacing in Luciel’s chest and it was muddling his thoughts. V… After a year and a half of distancing himself from the RFA - from Luciel and Yoosung and Jumin and, from what Luciel could gather, _everyone..._ That nagging thought from back in the chatroom with V was tugging at him again, and like a hooked fish V’s words were reeling him closer and closer to having it spill out of his mouth.

“I never met anyone who could talk to people like Rika could.” His voice was subdued and - it was hard to tell over the phone but Luciel was certain - tired. “But,” he continued, straightening his metaphorical - and perhaps literal - shoulders, “I can’t help but feel like this is all by design.”

Something caught in Luciel’s throat and he swallowed it down carefully. He was back to chewing his cheek in consideration. V was the first person he’d _like_ to ask, but he also had a healthy respect for V’s emotional state. He couldn’t just blurt out whatever wayward thought crossed his mind, even one as persistent as this. “What are you thinking?” he settled on.

“Rika…” V started hesitantly, “... I've told you she had a few secrets. Plans she wouldn’t share, even with me,” he confessed. “I think…” V seemed to gather himself, preparing for the words he had to say. “I said it in the chatroom earlier but I think this may be something she arranged to happen. And before you rebuke me, I know how it sounds,” he warned, voice strained, “but that is what I believe, almost without a doubt.”

Luciel pursed his lips, considering his next words. “I don’t think you’re crazy, if that’s what you’re worried about,” he reassured. “In fact,” he was continuing before he could stop his stupid dumb mouth, “I wanted to ask you if there was any possibility - any at all - that Rika might… still be alive?” His voice grew small, timid in the face of V’s potential reaction.

His response was immediate and calm. “It’s impossible,” he refuted without room for question in a quiet, hard voice. “Trust me, I- It’s impossible.”

Luciel nodded though V couldn’t see him. “You would know,” he conceded gently. And really, that should have been that. The line should have been cut and the thought should be gone. But Luciel could still, _still_ feel that anxious tug which had his knee bouncing under the desk. “So,” he started, clearing his throat, “you want us to host another party?”

V hummed his agreement. “The same as before,” he asserted. “I will auction my photographs as usual but I don’t think I will be able to have much input into the orchestration of the party this time around,” he warned. “I’ll leave that to Jumin - I’ll contact him directly concerning that.”

“Okay,” Luciel allowed but laid out for perspective, “but what about the fact that you’re telling me to give a random person staying in Rika’s apartment who is literally _surrounded_ by classified information - you’re telling me to give that person access to even _more_ classified information, and not only handle that information but also to have correspondence with potential guests - thus giving her access to _more_ classified information?”

V sighed into the receiver. “Please, Luciel,” he said, quietly determined. “Please trust me on this.”

For a few long seconds Luciel berated him with silence before caving. He agreed with an explosive sigh, “Okay. Okay! Alright, okay. If that’s what you want. ‘Iff’, actually, with two ‘f’s. If and only if _that_ is what you want then we will host another party. Do you have a date?”

“Not yet,” V admitted, the relief clear in his voice, “but I’ll have it arranged in the next couple of days.”

Luciel leaned forwards and rested his elbows on his knees, face dropping into a more sombre expression. “You know what you’re doing, right?” he confirmed.

“Don’t worry about it,” V reassured. “Keep tracking the hacker, but if you can’t find anything leave it. You have more important things to focus on,” he reminded.

“Yeah but I’m procrastinating right now,” Luciel responded flippantly, dropping the serious air and leaning back again to stare at the roof.

“I can tell,” V responded drily. There was a short, muffled conversation on his end before his voice returned. “I have to go,” he relayed. “I’ll be in touch. Soon.”

“Will you come to the chatroom more often now?” Luciel demanded before V could slip away, sitting up straight.

There was a beat of silence. “I’ll see what I can do. See you soon, Luciel.”

“Catch ya,” he returned, the dial tone almost cutting him off. “Someone’s in a rush,” he muttered, casting a worried glance to V’s contact. Without knowing quite why, he sent an ambiguous wish for V’s wellbeing. “Keep him safe,” was all he said, eyes glancing vaguely towards the ceiling, before relaxing back with a heavy sigh and unlocking the phone, which had closed after V hung up.

His thumb automatically tapped the messenger icon without a thought and when it opened Luciel’s eyes caught and tripped over the unfamiliar profile icon at the top of the bar, where an empty space had been before. For over a year, that space had been blank. He hesitated, then wondered why he was hesitating. He wanted to waste time, didn’t he?

Her profile was simple - they all were; Luciel hadn’t bothered to put much effort into it while designing the messenger. Her picture was of the same face from the pictures he’d seen - hers, undoubtedly now. There was no doubt in Luciel’s mind that MC was a real person at that point. She didn’t have a status message, and the banner was still the RFA logo Luciel had coded in as a filler image.

His leg jittered under the desk and he considered dropping his phone and finding something better to do. He didn’t. He didn’t want to. And anyway, he _deserved_ a break. Busting his ass over this hacker all morning and making absolutely zero progress in tracking him had left a sour kind of frustration in Luciel’s mouth that V’s call had done little to abate and he needed a distraction. His eyes landed on the button to the chatroom. MC’s icon sat at the bottom of the screen; she was online. Luciel’s thumb hovered over the button and he forced himself to tap it before he had to ask why he was hesitating again.

She must have gotten the alert that he was active because she broke out with an excited greeting Luciel wouldn’t have expected from any other RFA member.

**_Woah~! Who’s this guy?!_ **

He grinned, patting himself on the back for the great idea of procrastinating. He typed out a response of appropriate hype, his leg jumping happily under his desk, before settling in to bemoan his lost focus. She had a quick reply.

**_Is it because you like me?_ **

And he’d probably been spending _far_ too much time cooped up in his apartment with no company but the internet because the his first thought was ‘omg’ and then ‘OMG’ and then ‘SOMEONE WHO GETS ME!’ A wide grin had already spread across his face and his thumbs darted across the screen.

**B e c a u s e   I   l i k e   u ?**

**...is it that?**

**Hmm… If u and my Star Wars lego spaceship both drown**

**then I will shout to u to get on that spaceship and escape.**

**...is this…**

**W h a t   p e o p l e   c a l l**

**LO**

**VE?!**

He bit back his smile and realised he’d returned to chewing his cheek. He’d asked V, and V had said it was impossible. But… that thought was still there. The fishhook was still stuck in his consciousness, tugging incessantly. V had said it was impossible, and maybe… Maybe as far as V knew, it was. But Luciel, more than anyone, knew how people could just disappear. Rika’s death wasn’t something they’d ever questioned. The word _suicide_ hung too heavy in the air, immovable. Unquestionably true, because it _was._

His fingers hovered over the screen, contemplating for another moment before he caved and let them type out the thought, hitting send before he could reconsider.

**To be honest what I was thinking was...**

**What if Rika was alive?**

**I can't get that thought out of my head.**

Luciel sat back and stared at the black text, irrefutably there. If he'd thought sending it in the messenger would cut the thought lose he was wrong. It was still pulling at him, an uncomfortable tension he couldn't quite ignore.

**_Maybe she is really still alive?_ **

Luciel read the message a few times, a pained frown twisting his brows together. He pressed his lips together to hold back the confusing swirl of emotion and let himself sound lighthearted once more.

**I really wish so ^^**

**But thinking about this makes me sad**

**[picture]**

He'd taken the photograph two years previously and had used it a few times to trick the RFA into thinking it was a picture of Rika. Honestly he was flattered they hadn't questioned it until he revealed it was him. Rika had been undeniably pretty and he was honored to be mistaken for her.

**_She's beautiful._ **

The bottom of his stomach swooped at the unexpected feeling of deja vu. She knew. Luciel didn't know where his certainty came from, but he knew MC knew it was him. Without a doubt. They'd… Had they been here before? Or…

Luciel squeezed his eyes shut. Zen had had the same reaction. More vocal about 'her' beauty, maybe, but the same. He was remembering that; that's why it felt familiar.

But he could just enjoy this, couldn't he? V had said to keep MC and. Luciel _wanted_ to send her those pictures and have overly hype conversations about whatever came to mind. He wanted to, and she was part of the RFA now. Well, she had technically been part of the RFA since the moment she entered the chatroom, considering that in order to _get_ to the chatroom she had to agree to the confidentiality agreement.

So MC was part of the RFA and Luciel was by all means _allowed_ to have those conversations and send those pictures. Suddenly, the complicated swirl of emotion wasn't so complicated.

**This is...**

**A photo of me lololololol**

His leg bounced and the grin was back on his face when her response came quickly.

**_Cross dressing!?_ **

He even let out a small, happy laugh. He told her it was for the agency, but honestly why would they ever need him to crossdress? It was a personal hobby, and not one he was _ashamed_ of at all but. With people like Zen in the chatroom, and Jumin too, to say he wore dresses and wigs for fun might have been a bit much. And it _was_ fun, he admitted that much, but when it was ‘work’ it somehow magically ceased to matter whether or not he enjoyed it.

**If I can make everyone happy, then why not…**

**It was pretty fun lolol**

And… he’d admitted it. There it was. The truth was out. He didn’t let the conversation dwell, his suddenly anxious fingers quickly shifting the subject again. While he was in the chatroom he might as well share what V had told him, be at least a little productive while he procrastinated.

**I’m continuing the research on the person who took you to Rika’s apartment.**

But there was something more than that, he knew. Because that complicated emotion might not have been complicated anymore but it was still… multifaceted. And it was _important,_ too. It wasn’t just an emotion. Worry being part of it, he knew he wasn’t just being anxious. He needed to share his concerns with her, keep her aware of the situation. If she was RFA then she was family and Luciel would do his damndest to ensure they were all as safe as possible. Even if he couldn’t actually do anything, what with her at Rika’s apartment, having her be conscious of the potential danger was important. With that resolution, he messaged his concerns.

**What I’m worried about…**

**is the possibility that u r in danger.**

**If that Unknown person is not somehow related to Rika, then it means a third party**

**knows information about the RFA and ur location.**

**If anything happens…**

**please come to this chatroom.**

Her response was concise, sensible and all he wanted from such a downer of a topic.

**_Okay._ **

It confused him. He was confused. He didn’t understand it. He was glad, of course. Relieved she didn’t need to ask more questions, thankful she wasn’t trying to ignore the potentially dangerous situation she was in, grateful she trusted him despite almost certainly knowing he was withholding things. But with one word she took his warning and his advice and respected his decision to keep her on a need to know basis.

**Even though I can’t be the knight in shining armor to protect u**

**I want to be able to tell the knight who the villain is.**

Did he really need metaphors like that? Probably not. Who was even meant to be the knight in that situation? Zen already seemed incredibly interested in the new female member, but that was just the way he was. Luciel had no doubt he’d get over himself. Jumin wasn’t going anywhere near _any_ woman, so that was out of the question. Yoosung…? Not really the knightly type. Luciel wasn’t confident in how good was at protecting his LOLOL ranking, let alone a real live person. Jaehee was. Well, she was Jaehee. Understandably cautious right now, but she would surely be there in a moment if it was necessary. Hm. Did that mean… Would Jaehee be the knight? She’d loosen up eventually, Luciel was certain. From MC’s simple practicality, he could see them becoming fast friends. They could bond over Zen’s face and remind each other to eat and get enough sleep. Maybe MC could even get Jaehee to be less uptight, more happy. Maybe they’d retire and own a coffee shop together.

Luciel snorted a laugh to himself. What was he doing, honestly? His mind was unravelling from all that caffeine, probably. He shook his head to clear it, focusing back on the chat. He should… get back to work. There was a lot to do. He still hadn’t made any progress in tracking the hacker and most of his programs had completed the processes he’d set them to, coming up empty handed.

He sighed and dropped his grin for the determined resignation he dubbed ‘work mood’. Well. Hackers weren’t going to catch themselves and viruses weren’t going to be uploaded onto competitor servers without his help. Scandals to cause, governments to overthrow, etcetera, etcetera. 

**I should get back to work.**

But he still didn’t leave the chatroom. He waited for a response, not sure what he expected.

**_Thank you for telling me all these things._ **

Had he really told her much? A wash of panic shot through him. Had he told her _too_ much? But… nothing he’d said had been confidential. It was all information she needed or deserved to know, and… Maybe she was thanking him for warning her about Unknown? For sharing his fears and concerns, perhaps. His eyes went back to that ‘okay’ and a small, warm smile twitched back onto his lips.

**I’m the one to thank u for listening to me.**

She would be safe because she listened to him. As safe as she could be, in any case. That was more than enough. Time to stop with the distractions he decided, and glanced up when his computer gave an alert telling him another process had run through and turned over exactly zero results.

**Then peace out.**

He closed the messenger and dropped his phone on the desk. He pushed his glasses up with a knuckle and  focused on the monitor. Whatever uneasiness he’d had before, he’d been sufficiently distracted. Maybe… Maybe with MC there, he could go to the messenger more often. Maybe he could clear his head there when it got to cluttered, if she let him spam out whatever thoughts were filling his head until he couldn’t breathe.

Luciel didn’t bother to wipe the small smile off his face this time. Despite the headache this whole thing was giving him, he was certain something good would come of it.


End file.
